The Thinking Experiment

Developing Newton's 2nd Law with a Half Atwood Model

Run repeatable trials with a cart, hanging mass, and optional friction pad to connect motion data, force analysis, and Newton's 2nd Law.

Half Atwood Machine View (Primary)

Scenario: --

Time: 0.00 s

Phase: --

Force Sensor: -- N

Cart Velocity: -- m/s

Lab Controls

Scaffolded Checklist

  • Choose scenario, preset, and hanging mass. Pending
  • Run one trial. Pending
  • Select tension (Fₜ) window. Pending
  • Select velocity window. Pending
  • Add at least one accepted trial. Pending
  • Collect 2+ trials for fit. Pending
  • Export data or graph. Pending

Preset Details

    Current Trial

      Tension (Fₜ) Selection

      No window selected

      -- N (mean)

      Velocity Selection

      No window selected

      -- m/s^2 (slope)

      Accepted Trials

      ID Scenario Mass (kg) Fₜ (N) Accel (m/s^2) Force Window (s) Vel Window (s) Action
      No accepted trials yet.

      Tension (Fₜ)-Time Graph

      Tip: Drag across the graph to choose the averaging interval. Keyboard: Shift+Arrow adjusts start, Arrow adjusts end.

      Velocity-Time Graph

      Fit a line to the selected interval to estimate acceleration.

      Force of Tension (Fₜ) vs Acceleration

      Need at least 2 accepted trials for a linear fit.

      R^2: --

      • Collect accepted trials to display slope/intercept interpretations.

      Free-Body Diagram

      Use this as a model while creating your own force diagrams for lab write-up figures.